![\"Martin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1_Celtic-v-Dundee-William-Hill-Scottish-Premiership-Football-Celtic-Park-Glasgow-Scotland-UK-0.jpg\")
Martin O’Neill was given an emotional send-off on Wednesday night(Image: Mark Runnacles\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\nO’Neill signed out of Parkhead with a fifth league win on the bounce before handing over the reins to Wilfried Nancy<\/p>\n
18:00, 04 Dec 2025Updated 19:44, 04 Dec 2025<\/p>\n
Martin O’Neill was given an emotional send-off on Wednesday night(Image: Mark Runnacles\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n
Liam Scales admits he’s gutted to see Martin O’Neill go – but can’t wait to get working under new boss Wilfried Nancy<\/a>.<\/p>\n O’Neill bowed out of Parkhead with a gritty 1-0 win over Dundee on Wednesday night<\/a> before handing over the reins to newly-appointed Nancy.<\/p>\n The legendary gaffer steadied the ship by leading the club to seven wins from eight before being given an emotional farewell.<\/p>\n Scales<\/a> says it was a joy to play under one of the greatest figures in Celtic’s<\/a> history and confessed the 73-year-old will be missed after a stunning interim return.<\/p>\n He said: “Yeah, definitely. He’s been really good. It’s been a positive four weeks or five weeks. We’ve won a lot of games.<\/p>\n “We’ve obviously won a cup semi-final and won an away game in Europe as well. They were big wins. It’s just been really enjoyable and positive. We’ve all enjoyed it.”<\/p>\n O’Neill stands aside just days after being crowned Premiership Manager of the Month for November.<\/p>\n Scales admits it’s strange to give a boss a mid-season send-off but said: “It’s unusual but we have to put it in the back of our minds and approach the games the same way that we do.<\/p>\n “It’s not anything I’ve experienced before in that sense where obviously I’ve been part of teams where the managers have left and managers have come in.<\/p>\n “But not in this way so it is different. We’re just going to have to really focus now in the next few days because we have a massive game coming up and we need to get things right for that.”<\/p>\n Veteran O’Neill transformed the crisis-hit Celtic team he inherited from Brendan Rodgers by reminding them of the basics – a lesson Scales will remember for the rest of his career.<\/p>\n He said: “I think he would describe himself as old school and just being told that defenders defend first and that’s your main job.<\/p>\n “In the game now, the defenders are on the ball a lot and you need to link play. But to go back to basics and just be told that you need to win your headers, you need to win your duels. I think I’ll keep that with me.”<\/p>\n New gaffer Nancy arrives as a relative unknown in these shores but was highly rated Stateside after leading Columbus Crew to MLS Cup glory in 2023.<\/p>\n Scales insists he hasn\u2019t done much homework on the Frenchman but is eager to make an instant impression.<\/p>\n He said: “No, I haven’t had time. It’s been so busy. Obviously we know bits and pieces but we can’t get ahead of ourselves.<\/p>\n “We need to focus on the games that we have and now is the time where we’re going to have to really focus in on the tactical changes and whatever he wants us to do.<\/p>\n “It’s hard to do homework on someone you’ve never met because you don’t want to create a false idea of them.<\/p>\n “It’s better just to wait and leave them and really learn from them in person.”<\/p>\n Nancy makes a blockbuster dugout debut in Sunday\u2019s top-of-the-table clash with Hearts before hosting Roma in the Europa League on Thursday night.<\/p>\n Then, the 48-year-old will have the chance to lift his first piece of silverware in next Sunday\u2019s Premier Sports Cup Final at Hampden.<\/p>\n Scales insists it\u2019s the perfect period for Nancy to hit the ground running: \u201cI think so. It’s obviously going to be a massive week ahead for the club. It doesn’t get much bigger than the week he has to come in. It’s probably ideal.<\/p>\n “You want to come in and be part of massive games and he has a chance to win a trophy early on.<\/p>\n “I think if you come in and do well over the next three games, it’s the best way you can start a job.<\/p>\n “We’ll be doing our best to make that happen for him because we want to be successful as a team.<\/p>\n \u201cI think naturally players are going to want to impress now in the next few days and impress in the next few games as well.<\/p>\n “So I think that is going to be positive for us, 100 per cent. Not that we weren’t trying to impress the lads now, it’s just natural when a new manager comes in and people want to be on the team. It’s going to be exciting.”<\/p>\n Nancy is known to prefer a 3-4-3 formation which would signal a drastic change in system at Celtic.<\/p>\n That won’t faze versatile Scales as the Irishman added: \u201dI’ve played in back threes, I’ve played in back fives, I’ve played in back fours.<\/p>\n “I’ve played left wing back recently. I’ve played on the left and in the centre of a back three.<\/p>\n “For me, I just want to be in the team. That’s all I care about. It doesn’t bother me about formations and systems as long as I’m in the team and I can do a job in whatever position I’m playing.<\/p>\n “If that’s how it’s going to be, I just have to adapt and then I’ll learn and do it quickly I suppose.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"O’Neill signed out of Parkhead with a fifth league win on the bounce before handing over the reins…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299534,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[2817,2600,218,9531,30599,30905,8058,11728,101,56,54,55,106896],"class_list":["post-299533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-celtic-fc","tag-europa-league","tag-football","tag-hearts-fc","tag-liam-scales","tag-martin-oneill","tag-scottish-premiership","tag-scottish-professional-football-league","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wilfried-nancy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299533\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0_JS389687735.jpg\")
Liam Scales under pressure from Cameron Congreve of Dundee<\/p>\n